From an internal NPR staff announcement, obtained by FishbowlDC:

We are pleased to announce the first step toward achieving a significant new collaboration in public broadcasting. Today, PRI, Public Interactive (PI), and NPR signed an agreement for NPR to acquire the assets of Public Interactive, the Boston-based nonprofit organization founded by PRI that has played an instrumental role in the development and expansion of websites and digital services for 170 public broadcasting customers. This acquisition lays the groundwork for a digital distribution infrastructure to serve stations, producers, networks, and their partners in the communities we serve. At the completion of the acquisition in late August, PI will become part of NPR, and PI's 20 staff members will become NPR employees. The new unit will be led by Debra May Hughes, the current President and COO of Public Interactive, and will be guided by an NPR Board-appointed committee similar to that which guides today’s Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS).

Merging the assets of PI with NPR enlarges the scale and scope of digital services for the benefit of all public radio constituents. It aligns resources, expertise, and station relationships to grow stations' websites and digital services to make public media a more powerful presence online. This goal is central to NPR's digital strategy, which emerged from the New Realities planning process, is reflected in the 2006 Blueprint for Growth, and is approved by the NPR Board. The exploratory work of public radio’s Digital Distribution Consortium and previous efforts such as the Public Service Publisher Initiative identified the needs for a collaborative system for public media web content exchange that would mirror what today’s PRSS does for broadcast content.

Read the rest after the jump...

The time for investment in this area is now. Public media's web capabilities are dramatically under-resourced. For example, on average, public radio stations have fewer than one full-time staff member available to support their station’s digital efforts. Clearly, we need to pool resources to develop our collective potential.

On the Intranet, we have posted a Q&A that delves into different facets of this decision, and would like to call your attention to several station benefits:

• PI will support and expand the array of digital products and services now available to public broadcasting stations.
  
• PI-designed digital tools and services will include significant NPR content from which clients can select, in addition to content from PRI, BBC, Reuters, and other producers.
  
• While PI will maintain its current service model, it will create a new array of opportunities that will benefit the system as a whole.
  
• PI offers new distribution opportunities for all public media content producers.
  
• PI will become part of NPR but as with PRSS, which is managed by NPR on behalf of the system, PI will remain "customer and content neutral," serving stations, producers, and networks equally.

  This is an exciting development, and it is one that we feel will bring meaningful gains for stations, NPR, and public media as a whole in the digital environment. Once the acquisition is complete in late August, we will find ways for you to learn more about your new colleagues from Public Interactive and their important work. Please watch the Intranet for updates.